Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

Millville city budget may be ready by April 21

MILLVILLE – The city is looking tentatively toward April 21 to introduce its 2020 municipal budget amid uncertainty about when New Jersey will even be able to review local government budgets.

At Tuesday night’s City Commission meeting, Chief Financial Officer Marcella Shepard said her latest information is that New Jersey will not adopt its own fiscal year budget until September. The three-month delay will have effects at the local government level, she said.

“So, that means that they’re not going to be certifying municipal aid for our budgets to be adopted,” Shepard said. “So, the division is not adopting any budgets until further notice.”

New Jersey announced in March it was adding a month to the normal budget schedule due to the coronavirus. Municipalities and counties this year have until April 28 to introduce budgets and until May 30 to adopt them.

.(Photo: File photo)

The commission did take a related budget action Tuesday night. Members adopted an ordinance that allows the city to increase spending this year, versus 2019 spending, by more than 2.5 percent. The additional money can be kept in reserve, in what's known as as a cap bank, for use if needed.

If necessary, the commission now can increase its year-over-year spending by 3.5 percent. The extra 3.5 percent amounts to $956,782.61. The added 1 percent amounts to $273,366.

Shepard said the money can be set aside for two years for use if needed. "I'm not necessarily going to be using it this year," she said.

Commissioner Ashleigh Udalovas defended the move as a precaution, not a commitment to increase spending.

Udalovas said the adoption prepares the city financially “for emergencies, as per recommendations from the CFO and auditors to bank the additional 1 percent.”

Udalovas also said previous commissions routinely have taken the same action.

Lynne Porreca Compari, who was a member of the last commission, spoke against the adoption earlier in Tuesday night’s meeting.

“This just makes things easier,” Porreca Compari said. “You don’t have to make hard decisions about how to cut the budget and what is important and what isn’t important.

“Also, you have to remember the advice that you are getting from the employees,” she said. “While they are good at their jobs, they do not live in Millville and will not be affected by any tax hikes.”

At the commission meeting March 1, the chief financial officer said the city has about $240,000 still set aside in its "cap bank" from the ordinance adopted in 2019. There also is more than $600,000 from 2018.

Tuesday meeting was done by tele-conference due to the coronavirus. Commissioners and residents called a special phone number and enter a code to participate.

Vice Mayor James Parent did not take part. Parent is director of the department of Revenue and Finance, which drafts the annual budget.

Joe Smith is a Philly native transplanted to South Jersey more than 30 years ago. He is a former editor and current senior staff writer at The Daily Journal in Vineland. Have a news tip? Reach out at (856) 563-5252 or jsmith@thedailyjournal.com or follow me on Twitter, @jpsmith-dj. Help support local journalism with a subscription to The Daily Journal.